MMS is a mobile data service on 2 G, 2.5 G or 3 G mobile network, featuring much more complex service flow than that of Short Message Service (SMS). The greatest difference between MMS and SMS is that, in an SMS system, an SMS is pushed directly from a sender to a receiver, while in an MMS system, an address at which an MMS is saved is pushed to a receiver before the receiver initiatively downloads the MMS according to the address received.
At present when receiving an MMS, a receiver may adopt a method of delaying or performing immediately the receipt of the MMS. FIG. 1 shows the flow chart of a method for delaying the receipt of the MMS by the receiver in the related art. As shown in FIG. 1, the system that implements the transmission of an MMS includes a sender, an adjacent Short Message Service Center (SMSC) which the sender accesses, an adjacent Wireless Application Protocol Gateway (WAP-GW) which the sender accesses, an Originator Multimedia Message Service Center (Originator-MMSC), a Recipient Multimedia Message Service Center (Recipient-MMSC), an adjacent WAP-GW which the receiver accesses and an adjacent SMSC which the receiver accesses. The transmission of an MMS includes:
Step 100: the sender transmits an MMS transparently to the Originator-MMSC through the adjacent WAP-GW which the sender accesses, where the MMS contains a Mobile Station International ISDN Number (MSISDN) of the receiver;
Step 101: upon the receipt of the MMS, the Originator-MMSC transmits an MMS receipt confirmation transparently to the sender through the adjacent WAP-GW which the sender accesses;
Step 102: the Originator-MMSC determines the Recipient-MMSC according to the MSISDN of the receiver contained in the MMS and forwards the MMS which contains the MSISDN of the receiver to the determined Recipient-MMSC;
Step 103: upon the receipt of the MMS, the Recipient-MMSC sends an MMS receipt confirmation to the Originator-MMSC;
Step 104: the Recipient-MMSC stores the MMS, determines the adjacent SMSC which the receiver accesses and the receiver according to the MSISDN of the receiver contained in the MMS, and transmits an MMS notification transparently to the adjacent SMSC which the receiver accesses through the adjacent WAP-GW which the receiver accesses; the MMS notification contains the address of the Recipient-MMSC which stores the MMS;
Step 105: upon the receipt of the MMS notification, the adjacent SMSC which the receiver accesses returns a response indicating the receipt of the MMS notification through the adjacent WAP-GW which the receiver accesses to the Recipient-MMSC at the address of the Recipient-MMSC contained in the MMS notification;
Step 106: the SMSC which the receiver accesses sends the MMS notification which contains the Recipient-MMSC address that stores the MMS to the receiver;
Step 107: upon the receipt of the MMS notification, the receiver returns a response indicating the receipt of the MMS notification to the adjacent SMSC which the receiver accesses;
Step 108: when the receiver wants to obtain the MMS, the receiver determines the Recipient-MMSC that stores the MMS according to the Recipient-MMSC address contained in the MMS notification, and transmits a request for obtaining the MMS transparently through the adjacent WAP-GW which the receiver accesses;
Step 109: upon the receipt of the request, the Recipient-MMSC transmits the MMS stored transparently to the receiver through the adjacent WAP-GW which the receiver accesses;
Step 110: the receiver transmits an MMS receipt confirmation, i.e. an M-Ackowledge.ind message transparently to the Recipient-MMSC at the Recipient-MMSC address set by the receiver itself through the adjacent WAP-GW which the receiver accesses;
Step 111: upon the receipt of the confirmation, the Recipient-MMSC at the Recipient-MMSC address set by the receiver itself judges whether the MMS is transmitted successfully according to the content of the confirmation and sends a delivery report describing the MMS delivery status to the Originator-MMSC;
Step 112: the Originator-MMSC returns a response to the Recipient-MMSC indicating the receipt of the delivery report;
Step 113: the Originator-MMSC sends the delivery report obtained to the adjacent WAP-GW which the sender accesses;
Step 114: the adjacent WAP-GW which the sender accesses returns a response to the Originator-MMSC indicating the receipt of the delivery report;
Step 115: the adjacent WAP-GW which the sender accesses forwards the delivery report obtained to the adjacent SMSC which the sender accesses;
Step 116: the adjacent SMSC which the sender accesses returns a response to the adjacent WAP-GW which the sender accesses indicating the receipt of the delivery report;
Step 117: the adjacent SMSC which the sender accesses forwards the delivery report obtained to the sender;
Step 118: the sender returns a response to the adjacent SMSC which the sender accesses indicating the receipt of the delivery report.
The adjacent WAP-GW which the sender accesses and the adjacent WAP-GW which the receiver accesses are transparent transmission devices that do not modify or explain the messages they forward.
Usually the Recipient-MMSC at the Recipient-MMSC address set by the receiver and the Recipient-MMSC that sends the MMS to the receiver are the same Recipient-MMSC.
If the receiver obtains the MMS immediately upon the receipt of the MMS notification rather than delays the receipt of the MMS, Step 107 above will not be necessary, the adjacent SMSC which the receiver accesses, upon the receipt of the notification, forwards the MMS notification directly to the receiver, and then the receiver, upon the receipt of the notification, transmits a request for obtaining the MMS transparently to the Recipient-MMSC through the adjacent WAP-GW which the receiver accesses, and then Step 109 to Step 117 are performed, where the confirmation sent by the receiver indicating the receipt of the MMS in Step 110 is an M-NotifyResp.ind message.
When the receiver receives the MMS, an MMS provider charges the sender according to whether the receiver receives the MMS successfully; in other words, if the MMS is received successfully, the sender will be charged; otherwise the sender will not be charged.
Currently no international standards or criteria specify a mechanism for MMS charging, and different MMS providers often adopt different mechanisms for charging. There are two commonly used trigger mechanisms for MMS charging. In the first trigger mechanism the MMS provider takes the sending of the confirmation by the Originator-MMSC indicating the receipt of the MMS in Step 101 as a trigger point for charging, the Originator-MMSC generates a charging data record (CDR) and the sender is charged according to the CDR; in the second trigger mechanism the MMS provider takes the receiving of the MMS receipt confirmation by Recipient-MMSC in Step 110 as a trigger point for charging, both the Recipient-MMSC and Originator-MMSC generate CDRs and the sender is charged according to the CDRs.